MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Dani Pedrosa dominated both of Friday's free practice sessions at Donington. His last run during FP2 was particulary impressive, going out for ten laps and setting consistent low 1:29s. The only person to be able to match that kind of consistency was his former 250 rival Casey Stoner.
In injury news, Marco Melandri seems to have staged a near full recovery, as his times were also consistently fast, while Valentino Rossi is obviously a lot more comfortable than last week, but is still suffering a little, and may find it hard to ride a full race. Loris Capirossi went out during the morning session, but did not appear during the afternoon's session, as he was experiencing too much pain from the internal injuries sustained at Catalunya.
As for times, Pedrosa dominated, John Hopkins put in a couple of good laps to come second, with Stoner third. Checa put in a surprising display, setting the 11th time on the Dunlops which have been so poor so far this season. The times are also pretty close, as the top 12 are covered by less than a second.

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1min 28.970 secs
2. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 29.025 secs
3. Casey Stoner AUS Honda LCR 1min 29.064 secs
4. Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda 1min 29.196 secs
5. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 1min 29.275 secs
6. Colin Edwards USA Camel Yamaha Team 1min 29.379 secs
7. Valentino Rossi ITA Camel Yamaha Team 1min 29.416 secs
8. Kenny Roberts Jr USA Team Roberts 1min 29.544 secs
9. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 1min 29.557 secs
10. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 29.798 secs*
11. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda 1min 29.806 secs
12. Carlos Checa SPA Tech 3 Yamaha 1min 29.842 secs
13. Chris Vermulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1min 29.941 secs
14. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team 1min 30.342 secs
15. Alex Hofmann GER Ducati Marlboro Team 1min 30.387 secs
16. Michel Fabrizio ITA Fortuna Honda 1min 30.762 secs
17. James Ellison GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 1min 31.306 secs
18. Ivan Silva SPA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP 1min 32.524 secs
19. Jose Luis Cardoso SPA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP 1min 32.576 secs


* Capirossi's time was set during the first session in the morning.